THE Civil Defence Commission (CDC) has so far seen a great response to its Volunteer Corps for which they have trained in excess of 500 persons in shelter management, regional emergency operations, damage assessment and needs analysis.

This was revealed yesterday by Director General of the CDC, Colonel (ret’d), Chabilall Ramsarup in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle in his office at the CDC, Thomas Lands.

Regionalizing Volunteers
According to him, the commission did not expect such a vast response. However, he disclosed that they have plans to regionalise the volunteers.
In this regard, he said that they have already completed regionalizing Regions 4 (Demerara/Mahaica) and 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne), and will shortly do the same in the other regions.
He also pointed out that they have completed disaster risk management training in six of the administrative regions, and they will be doing the same in the four remaining regions this year.
According to him, they will also be helping these regions set up regional emergency operations centres, and they will be in Region 8 (Potaro/Siparuni) from the 17th to the 21st June.
The CDC’s Volunteer Corps was launched in October 2012, and has been conducting regional disaster plans while concurrently advertising the volunteer corps system.
The commission, with funding and support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) conducted a weekend training camp at Pandama Retreat for its volunteers during the period May 25-26, 2013.
During this training camp, 26 volunteers were drawn from Regions 4 and 6 and taken to the Soesdyke / Linden Highway location where they established a tent city and participated in practical field training exercises.
According to a release issued by the CDC, the training done with these volunteers was designed to equip them with necessary life skills while at the same time exercising them in situations that mimic that which they will likely encounter during times of emergencies/disasters.
The release stated that this was another measure taken to ensure that the CDC volunteers are better prepared and ready to answer the call of duty whenever called upon.